To quote Nevil Chan, Drunken Knights were chequemated in the final match against Wood Green, but claim to have won in the bar.
Moving from the ridiculous to the sublime, Leighton Buzzard won the Bedfordshire League by winning the final match against Milton Keynes

Pretty clear evidence of a successful approach to the development of juniors over a number of years

Pity no-one chooses to copy the model

We had a very similar model in Richmond for many years (and Richmond Juniors finished in 2nd place in the Thames Valley League on one occasion) but unfortunately, for a combination of reasons, it fell apart.

Hendon 1 retained the Middlesex League title, with Hendon 2 finishing in 3rd place behind runners-up Kings Head 1.
In the remaining divisions, Kings Head 2 and Ealing 1 gained promotion to the 1st Division, while Albany 1 and Hendon 3 move up to Division 2.

Goodness, 3C's II were struggling a few years back. Looks to be another wave coming through It really is astonishingly impressive. It must be very hard to set up and keep going.

Using chessnuts, the sundry Yorkshire leagues are easy to check on. Not all of them:
The Yorkshire league was won by York A from Sheffield A;
Nomads A from Chesterfield in the Sheffield league (16 matches at 8 boards a time!);
Rose Forgrove A from the reviving Leeds Central Chess Club by half a game point on tie break;
Bradford 159 in Bradford;
Plantagenets in York (both Wellers featuring there.). Minster Inn 2 were second and Minster Inn 1 third....
(it was third and fifth the previous year!)

Leeds Central chess club might be worth watching in some ways. There was once a historically very well established city center chess club in Leeds but it collapsed for various sad reasons a bit back. In recent times all the big clubs have very much been on the edges - Alwoodley in ,well, Alwoodley and Rose Forgrove in Kippax. It'll be interesting to see if they can get a city center club fully established again.

Manchester has of course gone the same way with no clubs really anywhere near the city center. Chorlton tends to pick the players up as it at least has bus connections.

The Durham league was won by Durham 'Bishops' from Durham 'Abbots'. The Cleveland league is I think getting decided tonight. (Redcar or Middlesbrough Rooks.).

Good stuff I did see the first few fairly strong teams being fielded a few years back but it had then seemed to fail through a bit. Clearly, with managing to field Arkell a few times, Bentley down on 5 etc its doing rather well for the moment....

Might make 3C's work for the main title next year. Ok you'll be using a lot of their players to do it

Another example of chess moving out of inner cities I suppose. Presumably following the players.

Winners: Aigburth; runner-up: Atticus 1. Title won in final match of the season

Chester & North Wales league

Winners: Wrexham; runner-up: Chester 1. Title won in final match of the season, a head-to-head which Chester needed to win 4-1, but lost 1.5-3.5

Wirral league

Winner: Chester 1; runner-up: Penyffordd. Title decided by the final game of the final match, a head-to-head which Penyffordd needed to win 3-2 or better, but drew 2.5-2.5. Match stood 2-2 with Jameson-Robertson still in play, the latter clearly winning. Well inside the QPF, Jameson decided to cut his losses and offered the draw (& the title). Robertson (yes, that's me) declined, to the astonishment of his assembled colleagues (well, I was easily winning!). As the clocks ticked into the 'red zone', astonishment turned to horror as Robertson lost the thread and blundered a piece - completely missed by Jameson! Further atrocities against our noble game were committed by a now panic-stricken pair before, with flags hanging, a mad scramble of exchanges and random captures left nothing to play with. Draw!